Next up was the wedding reception.
After the newlyweds kicked things off with their first dance, everyone started pairing up to join in. Naturally, Adam was with Peggy.
Under the slow rhythm of the music, the crowd swayed and danced. Adam, with his sharp ears, caught the newlyweds, David and Linda, whispering to each other while embracing, even as he danced with Peggy.
"David's talking to Linda about having kids," Adam whispered into Peggy's ear, syncing her in on the gossip.
"Having kids?" Peggy couldn't help but glance over, noticing her mom Linda's hesitant expression.
"Yup," Adam chuckled. "David wants a little bundle of love with Linda—hoping for someone as pretty and cute as you. But Linda's unsure. She said she wants to ask for your opinion first."
"Hmph," Peggy replied coolly. "I don't mind, but I just hope this time she doesn't let the new kid steal all her attention again. If she ends up neglecting David and their relationship falls apart, I'm worried the kid might not handle it well psychologically."
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much about that," Adam said, lowering his head to rest his forehead against Peggy's, meeting her eyes with a smile. "You learn from your mistakes, right? Your mom will balance her attention between the kid and her husband this time. Plus, David doesn't seem like the type to get jealous of his own child. So, your future half-sibling probably won't end up carrying the same baggage you did."
"Heh," Peggy laughed, her cool demeanor melting as she teased, "You're right! Even if Mom hasn't learned her lesson and David does get jealous, and my future half-sibling ends up taking the blame, at least they'll have you—the expert—to comfort them.
You've come a long way, you know. Your persuasion skills have leveled up so much—no trace of the awkwardness you had when you tried to talk me down back then. I'm sure you'll nail it if it comes to that!"
"Awkward?" Adam raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're talking about me? I seem to remember a certain someone being moved to tears by my words back then."
"Hmph!" Peggy shot him a side-eye. "If it weren't for Sheldon being there, ready to hand me a hot drink because we were so alike, and seeing you rambling on, looking all anxious, I might've been slightly touched. But you really think you made me cry? I just felt like crying on my own, that's all."
"Whatever, you still cried," Adam said, shrugging with a smug "doesn't matter how tough you are, you still got hit by the monkey with the golden staff" kind of look.
"Speaking of that," Peggy said, ignoring Adam's endless victory loop, her smile teasing. "I remember you grinning like a creep back then. Was it really like they said—you already had your eye on me? I was only ten, you know!"
"No way," Adam quickly dropped the smile, rushing to explain. "I was just happy to see you turn things around, not wasting your genius intellect anymore. I thought, 'Hey, maybe humanity's future will take a huge leap forward because of you,' and I contributed to that! I couldn't help but grin.
You were ten, for crying out loud—cute at best. And 'cute' is for kids, okay?
How could I have had my eye on you? Who's spreading these lies? That's too much!
Think about it—if I really had ulterior motives, you were living next door to me for six or seven years after college. Why wouldn't I have reached out?"
He was absolutely not taking the blame for this.
He wasn't some creep!
"Maybe it was all part of a long game?" Peggy teased, playing along. "You did send me your book, didn't you? Wasn't that to make me think highly of you? Maybe even turn me into one of your fans. And you really expect me to believe you were grinning like that for the sake of humanity's future?"
"…" Adam's mouth twitched, speechless.
He couldn't exactly say, "Well, it's because you acknowledged our friendship, and the system rewarded me with 6 wisdom points, so I was over the moon."
With Peggy's smarts, pulling the "for humanity's future" card again would be pointless.
But he couldn't tell the truth.
Sigh.
Looks like he'd have to take the fall for this one.
"Heh," Peggy laughed even harder, clearly enjoying Adam's defeated expression.
---
The wedding reception eventually reached its final highlight: the bride's bouquet toss, a moment everyone loved.
Linda, the bride, held her bouquet, glancing at the group of single women gathered for the toss. She subtly noted where her daughters, Peggy and Erica, were standing, memorizing their positions.
Then, she turned around, raised the bouquet over her head, and tossed it—deliberately away from Peggy and Erica.
In Western tradition, whoever catches the bride's bouquet is said to be the next lucky bride.
Clearly, Linda wasn't hoping for either of her daughters to catch it and become the next bride—especially Peggy, who had only just come of age.
A girl caught the bouquet and immediately started jumping with joy, clutching it tightly.
"What about us?" some playful young guys started to heckle, demanding to join in on the fun.
If tossing the bouquet was a blessing for single women, then surely there had to be a blessing for single men, right?
When Adam finally understood what kind of "blessing" they were talking about, his mouth twitched, and he silently vowed to himself: No way am I joining this. Not in a million years.
You've got to be kidding.
The groom taking off the bride's stockings and tossing them to single guys?
Eugh.
That's way too much!
Especially with his and Peggy's relationship in the mix.
If it ended up in his hands…
Talk about awkward!
Thankfully, this borderline inappropriate activity was just something a few rowdy guys came up with—a regional thing, not widely accepted.
At least, Adam had been to several weddings and had never seen this "tradition" before.
David, being a decent guy, flat-out refused to entertain such nonsense, especially since it reminded Adam of some of the gross wedding pranks he'd seen in his past life.
---
The wedding wrapped up.
Originally, David and Linda were supposed to head straight off for their honeymoon, flying somewhere far away.
But since they'd known each other for a while and had already traveled the world together—basically their honeymoon—David, who was in the middle of starting a business, didn't have time for another trip.
So, after everyone else left, it was just Adam, Peggy, and the other best man and maid of honor, along with the newlyweds.
They gathered together and had a good chat.
During the conversation, Peggy主动 brought up that she didn't mind if Linda had more kids in the future, telling her mom not to worry.
Erica, on the other hand, was blunt. "Have kids or don't, I don't care. I barely existed to you back then anyway. What's a few more siblings to me now?"
Linda felt both guilty and relieved.
At this stage in her life, experiencing such intense love again—she was head over heels for David.
When David expressed his desire to have a beautiful, cute love child with her, just like Peggy, how could she refuse?
But, well, having a second child meant she had to check with her "eldest," Peggy.
After all, for the first eighteen years of her life, Linda's entire focus had been on Peggy.
Eugh.
In that moment, Linda completely forgot about her actual eldest daughter, Erica…
😅 belamy20